1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to handheld electronic devices and, more particularly, to a handheld electronic device that provides assistance in entering information for a new or existing contact in an address book application of the handheld electronic device. The invention also relates to a method of providing such assistance to a user of a handheld electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Numerous types of handheld electronic devices are known. Examples of such handheld electronic devices include, for instance, personal data assistants (PDAs), handheld computers, two-way pagers, cellular telephones, and the like. Such handheld electronic devices are generally intended to be portable and thus are relatively small. Many handheld electronic devices also feature wireless communication capability, although many such handheld electronic devices are stand-alone devices that are functional without communication with other devices.
Many handheld electronic devices include and provide access to a wide range of integrated applications, including, without limitation, email, telephone, short message service (SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), browser, calendar and address book applications, such that a user can easily manage information and communications from a single, integrated device. These applications are typically selectively accessible and executable through a user interface that allows a user to easily navigate among these applications.
Most address book applications enable a user of the associated handheld electronic device to store several pieces of information for a given contact in a number of different fields. This, information may include, for example, the following fields: salutation, first name, last name, email address, company name, title, work, home, mobile, fax and pager numbers, address (often broken into two fields), city, state/province, ZIP/postal code, and country name, among others. In current address book applications, when a user wishes to enter a new contact for storage by the application, or enter information for an existing (already stored) contact, the information for the contact must be manually entered by the user of the handheld electronic device one field at a time using the input apparatus, such as a keyboard, that is provided with the handheld electronic device. None of the information that is input is used to facilitate the entry of information in another field or fields. As will be appreciated, depending on the amount of information to be entered, this process can be quite time consuming and at times inconvenient for the user. Thus, there is a need for a system and method for facilitating and simplifying the process required for a user to enter information for a new or existing contact into an address book application of a handheld electronic device.
Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the specification.